Before The Darkness
by NocturnalLull
Summary: The story takes place 10 years ago, when the Heaven's and Hell's Gate made their appearance and the true sky and stars disappeared along with the dreams and innocence of the three main characters; Hei, Bai and Yin.
1. Wishing Upon The Stars

Disclaimer: All rights go to Tensai Okamura, Bones (and whoever else).

Under no circumstances this is profitable, I just felt like writing it and I want to share the result. (:

Well, it's the first I've written fanfiction. Actually, it's the first time I've written anything (and maybe the last). So, any reviews and critics to make me improve are more than welcomed. Also, English are not my native language, so if you notice any mistake please let me know in order to correct them.

* * *

**I**

** Li and Xing**

It was a warm, late summer's day. In a cottage hidden in the woods alongside a lake, Li and Xing were passing the last days of summer. Their parents went there quite often in order to observe the stars from the observatory, and they always enjoyed the place. It was small and peaceful.

Xing, wearing a snow white dress and a hairband entered Li's room quietly, trying not to disturb him.  
- "Onii-chan, it's nice outside, can we go to see the stars at the lake again?"  
Li was sitting on his bed reading a book, he turned to see outside his window and then turn his head towards his sister.  
- "Sure." He said smiling.  
- "Ok, I'm going to tell mum." She said as he got out of his room.

- "Mum, onii-chan and I are going to the lake!" Xing said full of excitement.  
- "Ok sweetheart, be careful and don't forget to listen to your onii-chan."  
- "Yeah mum!"  
- "Li-kun" their mother now addressing her son, "Take care of your sister and remember, don't leave her alone."  
- "I won't mum."  
- "Don't stay till very late!" their mother cried as the children left the room.

The siblings went to the door and wore their shoes eagerly. Li took his telescope and they set off.

The lake wasn't far from their cottage, in fact, it was only a few minutes away. Xing was walking cheerfully and Li followed a few metres beside her. He wasn't worrying about his sister, she was a smart girl, she couldn't get lost or do something stupid that will hurt her. Still, he had his eye on her, feeling responsible of watching over his little sister.

When they arrived, Li set up his telescope with Xing trying to help him. It was a birthday present from his parents, he always wanted a telescope- his own telescope.  
The sky was clear and perfect for stargazing. The whole view was breathtaking; the placid lake was mirroring the night sky while the green trees were standing proudly around it.  
Xing took off her shoes and put her feet into the water breaking the lake's calmness.

- "It's chilly!" She cried.

Meanwhile, Li was looking at the sky trying to recognise any constellations he knew. Suddenly, a star fell.

- "Look!" He said pointing to the falling star. "It's a shooting star."  
- "Wow!" Xing said in astonishment. "It's beautiful."

As the time was passing, Xing was scanning the sky with her eyes to see more stars falling.

- "Oh, A shooting star! Onii-chan, I saw another shooting star!"  
- "Then, why don't you make a wish this time?" Li asked her.  
- "A wish?" She wondered.  
- "Yeah, a shooting star is the light that escapes whenever God opens the door to the sky. If you make a wish when you see one, God will grand it."  
- "Really? Her blue eyes widened with curiosity. "I have a lot of wishes! I want to be a nurse and travel into space!" She exclaimed.  
- "There's no point in telling your onii-chan. You have to tell the star what your wish is."  
- "I see.. uhmm Mr. Star..? Mr. Star..?" She was repeating waiting for a star to fall. "Oh, I saw one!"

As the star was falling, she closed her eyes and made her wish.  
Soon, more stars started to fall.

_  
Notes:  
Onii-chan = brother  
Xing's name means "star" in Chinese  
I couldn't find any suitable name for Hei, but Li is short and nice. :Ρ


	2. The Silver Moonlight

** II**

**Kirsi**

"Maiden, black night,  
mourning in sadness,  
falling into the night alone,  
the moon that accompanies  
her, radiates of silver  
as the night of atonement  
quietly passed by"  
-Itzhak's poem

In the middle of a forest laid a beautiful wooden house surrounded by pines. Inside it, Kirsi was getting ready for her piano lesson. She was wearing her purple satin dress with the big bow and tried to tie her hair in a ponytail with a ribbon, getting a little help from her mother. Although she hated to admit it, she couldn't do everything on her own- she was 9 years old after all.

She sat waiting for her piano teacher, Mr. Eelis Kastinen to arrive. Kirsi never missed a piano lesson, and although she sometimes complained about them she knew they were essential in order to fulfill her dream. One day she would become a great pianist and give concerts where thousands of people would attend. Her mother, father and teacher will be there watching her proudly..  
While having all those thoughts spinning in her head, she thought about her dad's absence, he had been away on a business trip for 3 weeks.  
- "Mama?"  
- "What is it, Kirsi?"  
- "When will Papa return home?"  
- "Hum, he will probably be home by the next week."  
Or sooner, she didn't want to tell her that, otherwise she would spoil the surprise.

***

It was late in the afternoon when Mr. Kastinen arrived, her mother went downstairs to open the door, while Kirsi kept waiting in the living room where the shiny ebony piano was.  
She could hear their steps as they walked towards her.  
-"Good afternoon Kirsi, are you ready for our lesson?" He asked.  
-"Yes" she replied, " I've been waiting for you."  
-"Alright then, let's begin."  
Kirsi nodded and her teacher had a look in the music scores; her mother was sitting on the sofa watching them.

-"That's not right Kirsi" Mr. Kastinen said interrupting her. "Play it like this", he said as he touched the piano's keys. "Hold the pedal a bit longer."  
- "That's what I'm doing"! Kirsi exclaimed.  
- "Try to play it with a little more emotion." He told her gently.  
- "Emotion?" She wondered.  
- "Your feelings -try and grasp the form for the time being."  
- "Lust the form?" Kirsi was a little confused. "Feelings and form are different! I know that mu…"  
-"Listen, Kirsi, once you grasp the feel of it, your emotions will be able to flow freely. For example, if you smile when you're sad, your sadness will lessen."  
- "I can't understand what you're saying teacher!" Kirsi said a little pissed off.  
- "Maybe that analogy is a bit too difficult." He replied, turning his head to Kirsi's mother.  
- "She speaks like an adult, but she's still a…"  
- "Don't treat me like a child Mama!" She was annoyed everytime her mother did that, she wasn't any immature little kid.

Both her mother and teacher stared, confused with Kirsi's weird behavior.

-"Teacher, is it a full moon tonight?" She asked calmly, after some seconds of silence. She wasn't angry anymore.  
-"Let's see.. You're right!" He exclaimed.  
-"Of course I am teacher, I like this light; I can't see it but I can feel its silver glow." She said as she closed her eyes and open her hands.

The silver moonbeam of the full moon filled the room with glowing light. It gave Kirsi's hair a beautiful shinning hue and made her violet eyes sparkle as it fall over her through the window.  
To Kirsi, the moonlight was like emotions. She couldn't see it or touch it, only feel it.


	3. Goodbye Blue Sky

**III**

**Li and Xing**

Xing's small white figure was illuminating the night's scenery. She was standing still, with her small feet in the lake's crystal waters.

- "Did you make your wish?" Li broke the silence.  
His sister's back was turned to him. He saw her nodding.  
- "Hey, what happened?" She was unnaturally quiet. Was she thinking? Or maybe something had worried her?  
- "Nothing." She replied.  
- "Nevermind, it's late and you must be tired, let's head home."

They walked through the dark forest, shooting stars were falling above them. Li was thinking whether their parents would be awake waiting for them and scold him for returning so late. He turned his head to check his sister who was following him quietly. "If something's troubling her, she'll tell me later." He comforted himself.  
By the time the siblings arrived at their house there was no one there. Li found a note from his mother saying they have gone to the observatory. He paid her a call to assure her they've returned safe and sound.  
Xing went straight to her bed and fell into a deep sleep. Li placed his telescope next to his bed and thought about the sky. It was an unforgettable sight, he had never seen so many stars fall in his whole life. Was it normal? For the first time this thought crossed his mind, but before thinking it much about it he fell asleep.

In the morning, Li woke first and tiptoed into his parents' bedroom to find his father sleeping alone. He decided not to wake him and headed towards the kitchen with his belly howling like a wolf.  
He couldn't wait for his father to wake up, so he put all his cooking skills into making enough breakfast for everyone. No sooner had he finished, he heard his sister's light footsteps.

Xing had gotten up after a long, dreamless sleep and walked into the kitchen still in her nightgown.  
- "Good morning" Li said sleepily.  
- "Hhm" his sister moaned and went to sit down where the table was.  
- "I made you breakfast."  
She nodded and took the plate in front of her; the food smelled too delicious to resist at it.  
- "Does it taste ok?" He asked his sister as soon as she got the first bite.  
- "It's simply food, it doesn't matter how it tastes." She replied coldly.

Li was looking at her confused trying to find out whether that was an implicit for his cooking when their father walked in.

-"Good morning, did you make breakfast yourselves?"  
-"Yeah". Li answered him.  
-"Nice, it smells good, I hope it tastes the same." he joked giving a meaningful look at Li and then turned to his daughter who was sitting emotionless the whole time.  
-"Why the long face Xing-chan? Did you had a bad sleep?"  
-"No."  
-"Are you feeling ill?"  
-"No, I'm feeling fine."

Li looked at her a bit disbelieved. She was like that since yesterday- oh, yesterday, how could he have forgotten about last night's incident?

- "Oh, dad did you see the shooting stars last night?!"  
- "Yeah.. it was a beautiful sight." He responded.  
- "That's why you went to the observatory? Is mum still there?" Li asked while he was chewing the last mouthful of his breakfast.  
- "Yes, she stayed there overnight, but she'll return from time to time."

Xing was listening to their conversation without joining, she glanced at her brother who looked amazed, but she didn't feel the least excitement about the stars, nor was she eager to see her mother and plague her with a lot of questions like she did other times before. After all, what was the point in having emotions like these? None of them were essential in order to survive, but still, every human had them.

* * *

More chapters are going to be published. Hope it's readable so far.


	4. Love's Blind & The Last Farewell

** IV**  
**  
Kirsi**

The melodic tune of the piano was filling the room; outside, the full moon was outshining the numerous stars and its moonbeams fell over the landscape, illuminating it with a faded silver light.

When the music ceased, as the song had come to an end, Mr Kastinen and Kirsi's mother applauded.  
- "That was wonderful Kirsi." Her piano teacher praised her.  
Kirsi blushed for a moment, she enjoyed getting compliments about her playing although she wanted to stay modest.  
- "Next.. woah!" The teacher exclaimed.  
- "Is something wrong?" Kirsi's mother asked.  
- "No, I just dropped my penlight." He said, while searching for it.  
- "Oh, let me turn on the lights." She told him.  
- "No!" Kirsi suddenly cried. "I like things as they are." "I like this light; the moonlight."  
- "Kirsi.." Her mother uttered. At times like that she wondered with her daughter's strange behaviour.  
- "It's alright I think it's around here.."

As he and the woman were looking for it, their hands met by touching the penlight at the same time. As they looked up; they were left staring at each other's eyes for a few moments. Then, Kirsi's mother took her sight away, giving a shy smile, feeling embarrassed. When Eelis saw her, a sorrowful smirk of disappointment was drawn in his face.

- "Did you find your penlight?" The silver-haired girl asked.  
- "Yeah." He replied.  
- "I see."  
- "Well, let's go on now."

* * *

Kirsi's mother was an attractive woman in her mid thirties, with long, wavy platinum blond hair and pale purple eyes. She had stopped working and homeschooled her daughter, teaching her almost every subject and getting teachers for the rest. Her husband was a business man doing the best possible to allow his family lead an economically comfortable life.

* * *

- Hello?

An unexpected call in the night. Kirsi walked towards the room where her mother had answered the phone, sensing that something had happened.

- "Mama? What's wrong?" She asked.

Her mother had fallen on her knees, looking startled.

- "The flight... Papa's flight.." Was all she could hardly say, trembling, but they were enough to make Kirsi understand what was going on.

-"Papa.." Kirsi said calmly, and then run in her room and burst into tears.

* * *

"The whole country is devastated by the aviation accident that occurred yesterday. The 134 passengers, including 6 children, and the pilot who were traveling across the Atlantic were killed, the causes of the fall are still unknown..."

One of the victims was no other than Kirsi's father. The news in TV and radio were playing it over and over again. In Kirsi's mind though, it seemed like everything was fiction. Her father was still at his business trip and he would return safe and sound, she would wait for him no matter how much time it would take. No, it was impossible for him to return, her heart knew this, after all, today was the day they were going to bit the last farewell to him.  
With heavy mood , she wore a deep purple dress with black trims and a black bolero jacket. Her mother looked very pale and exhausted from crying, even though Kirsi couldn't see her, he felt her pain in her voice, in her pace, everywhere.  
A large number of people attended the funeral, Kirsi was given white flowers to hold, along with other members of his family while they were standing up. Suddenly, she heard a loud noise next to her and footsteps coming along. It was her mother, she had fainted.


	5. Born Again

**V**

**Li and Xing**

"A strange phenomenon occurred last night when thousand of stars fell from the sky before it was left totally blank and then new ones started to appear. The lucky persons who witness it describe it as an extraordinarily beautiful and terrifying sight at the same time. NASA on the other hand claims that they don't know what caused that weird phenomenon but there's no need to worry about it at the moment."

It was the first subject of discussion in every radio station that morning. Li, Xing and their father were sitting listening to the abnormal news. As soon as the program was cut for advertisements, their mother entered the door.

- "Mum! You returned." The boy cried.  
His mother walked in, looking exhausted from the long night.  
- "Are you all right?" Their father asked, looking at his wife's tired features.  
- "I'm dead-tired but we need to talk." She replied.  
- "Can't it wait until you get some rest?"  
- "No, it's better now." The woman insisted.  
- "Alright then." He said.  
- "Xing-chan, Li-kun, can you go to play as I talk with your dad?" Their mother asked, giving them a meaningful glance.  
- "Why don't you speak in front of us? If it's about the stars I want to learn too." Li complained.  
- "It's about work, you don't need to learn. I'll tell you about the stars later."  
- "Fine." He replied.

Li walked outside. His sister followed him, she had nothing better to do that lazy summer day. Outside the sky was clear blue and the grass was vibrant green. Most of the flowers were withered due to the summer's heat and were now waiting for spring to be reborn.

- "Xing, Come over there!" Li suddenly cried.  
- "What is it, onii-chan?"His sister asked, with an emotionless tone.  
- "Look, it's a bird." He said as he was holding the a small creature in his hands, which he had found chirping beneath a tree. "Its wing is broken." He added.  
- "If it cannot fly then it's useless, it would soon die or another animal would eat it." His sister answered.  
- "If I tie the broken wing it may heal and it will be able to fly again."  
- "Why putting effort saving it? There are numerous other birds in the sky." Xing was once again confused with her brother's actions as he was now also confused with hers. In the past they had helped many injured animals, even insects, to heal and if the unfortunate creatures didn't make it, they were really sad. They all seemed meaningless to the girl now, she didn't find any reason to treat them, they weren't useful to her in any way. "Compassion" the word jumped in her head, but what was the meaning of it?  
- "We shouldn't leave it like that to suffer." Her brother tried to explain. "After all, what kind of nurse would you be if you don't help a small bird?"

That was a good point, if she wanted to be a nurse she had to help others, but, for some reason she didn't feel like becoming one, nor travel to the stars like before and she found absolutely no meaning in helping others if she wasn't benefited from it.

- "Then, I won't become one." She told her brother after thinking about it.  
- "You change your mind too quickly." Her brother knew the discussion wasn't going anywhere and he didn't plan to change his sister's mind at that moment.  
"I'm going inside to look for something to tie its wing. Stay here if you want."

* * *

- "Tell me, what happened after I left? It looked like something more than a simple rain of asteroids." The man said, looking at his wife who was sitting opposite to him.  
- "It was." She said.  
- "What do you mean?"  
- "Not only did the stars fell, but all the signs from the satellites were lost."  
- "How did that happen? Were they destroyed?" Her husband exclaimed in confusion.  
- "No one knows, at least this is what they told us. I don't know whether it's the only consequence. If they can't restore them, telecommunication would stop for the time being."  
- "How are they going to do so if they don't even know what had caused it?"  
- "I don't know, If they found the reason soon, they might be able to fix it."  
- "Sounds like the end of the world." He said, half-joking.  
- "You never know."  
- "Anyway, is anything else they let you know?" He asked more seriously.  
- "No, but we'll have to return sooner home."  
- "Return?! Why?" At that point Li came inside having heard the last part of their conversation.  
- "We'll have to return to work Li-kun, don't forget that schools are about to start."  
- "Ugh." Li signed, he wasn't really very fond of school and in addition, he didn't like the idea of returning.  
His mother looked at her son's expression and then she noticed something in his hands.  
- "What do you have there?" She said in a softer manner.  
- "It's a bird, I think it has a broken wing."  
- "Are you doing the doctor again? Well, there are bandages in the bathroom's closet, they should do."  
- "I'll look."

* * *

In a storage outside their house, Li was searching for a place to leave the bird, accompanied by his sister. He placed the wounded bird in the less dusty corner next to a half-open window, giving it a plate with seeds and water.

- "Are you going to leave it here?" The small girl asked him.  
- "Yep, I think it's safe." He said and they walked outside, the wooden door closed with a loud sound behind them.

Xing walked a few paces in front of him. Li watched his little sister with his big dark blue eyes and started to think, there was something unusual in her, his parents were probably too busy to notice yet. Should he tell them? Or better not?

- "Onii-chan?" Xing called him, noticing he was spacing out.  
- "I'm coming." He said.

"I don't know whether it's the only consequence" "Sounds like the end of the world" What were their parents talking about? The stars? Maybe he didn't want to know, he would learn it sooner or later.  
Last night, it was like the sky had cry all its stars away and then, something terrible happened to his sister, she wasn't herself any more, not that sweet cheerful girl. He felt it, her heart had changed.

* * *

***  
Thanks to anyone who have read it so far. (:


	6. Who Killed Mr Moonlight?

**VI**

**Kirsi**

"Bearing the sins of the children of Earth the moons begins to consume its light"  
-Bertha

In the days followed by her father's funeral the house was immersed in gloom. At times people came to visit and give condolences, mostly old friends or coworkers of her father, some of them Kirsi had never heard of before. The girl rarely greet them and when she did she only stayed for a while and then she headed quickly to her room. Soon, the visits and calls ceased, like everyone had forgotten them.

That day Mr. Kastinen was their only visitor, but this time he didn't come for piano lessons. Kirsi had stopped the lessons for the time being, although she knew her life must go on it just wasn't time yet. She prefered to play the piano when she was alone, by the only company of the bright moonlight.

The house inside was cold and rather dark, with the candles fighting to keep their flames burning, thus giving a pale light to the room.  
The teacher walked upstairs and knocked at his student's ajar door before entering. "Come in." A voice was heard, as the door opened and the man walked in.  
"Kirsi.." he said, "How are you?"  
"I'm fine." She replied.  
Both knew it was lie. Kirsi tried to smile remembering her teacher's words from the other day. "If you pretend to feel a certain way, your feeling will become genuine." She could now understand its meaning better, although it couldn't help changing the way she felt.  
Seeing her, Mr. Kastinen went on saying, "I know it's hard for you Kirsi, but if you wish to talk about it you know I'm here."  
"No, it's fine.. thank you." A tear flowed on the girl's cheek, luckily for her, her teacher didn't notice.

* * *

After a while Eelis left Kirsi alone and walked downstairs where her mother had being sitting. He couldn't stand seeing the woman he loved, now a widow, being in grief.  
In the past, he had several guilty thoughts of stealing her away and as much as he wanted he couldn't fight these thoughts, neither his feelings for her. Now his only wish was to make her forget her misery.

He sat on the seat next to her thinking of which would be the best words to console her, when she turned and touched his hand looking straight at him. Her vivid and beautiful eyes were now hollow and tired from crying. As they got closer Eelis felt his heart ready to break, and suddenly, the sound of the door opening was heard.  
The woman got up immediately. "Kirsi! she must have gotten outside" she said and ran after her daughter, with Eelis following her.

* * *

Kirsi was running blind in the darkness, she didn't knew where she was going, all she wanted was to escape.

"Kirsi!" She heard her mother calling her.  
A loud noise and a light- different from the one of the moon-, followed. Kirsi freezed in terror, was it a truck coming? She felt her body heavy and was unable move. Her mother quickly pushed her away.

"Mama!" She shouted in vain.

It was too late. The woman had been hitten by the coming truck .

Eelis ran and held her body. Once again it was too late, she had stopped breathing.

The van's driven got out asking, "Is she ok? The girl into so suddenly the van couldn't stop..". Then he saw the woman's soulless body lying on the hands of the teacher.

"Mama's.." Kirsi whispered, unable to believe what was going on.

* * *

Inside, Eelis had placed the dead body on a table and covered it with a white sheet. Kirsi, now having overcome from her shock and getting away with minor injuries, was holding his hand crying.

"Mama.. she died because of me."

She couldn't help but blaming herself for what happened. Her mother had given her life to safe her and now both her parents were dead. How could she have acted so childish and run away?

From that night and on she never felt the silver moonlight again.

The night sky wasn't the same anymore. Neither was her.


End file.
